Brief Description of the Prior Art
Many containers have been designed attempting to perfect the collapsible bucket style container having a multiplicity of sides, ranging from five to circular.
The octagonal and circular "bucket" configurations have received the most attention and success to date, however, there have been basic compromises. The bucket used to contain food, such as fried chicken or popcorn has generally been of a non-collapsible configuration, allowing for the permanent sealing of the seams at the base and sides to prevent leakage.
The collapsible buckets never gained popularity with food related products because of the obvious problems of strength and sealage.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,623, a collapsible circular container is disclosed. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the latching tongue 23 locks into the latching aperature 59 with the bottom panels being folded thereon. The bottom seal of this container does not prevent leakage and can safely be used for dry foods only.
The container of U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,408 appears to overcome the aforenoted problem of leakage, however, the strength of the container is not equal to that of the instant invention. The container is glued to appear much like a paper bag when unopened. To secure the container in the open position, the "lower ends of . . . two walls 14, 15, will snap inwardly toward each other at points 11 . . . ". Although there is a snapping action, there is no locking action to prevent the lower ends of the wall from returning to the unfolded position. This would preclude this container from being used with heavy items such as chicken or the like and could pose some problems with items such as popcorn where there is frequent pressure at the bottom.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,310 discloses a hexagonal container which, to complete the bottom seal, requires adhesive coated portions. This adds additional expense to the manufacturing through adhesive and additional equipment. In addition the top portion of the container is required to add to the rigidity of the carton, therefore limiting its uses.